Anniversary Gone Bad
by bobbiejod
Summary: One-Shot. Chandler is on his way home to Monica so they can celebrate their anniversary when he gets attacked. Will he be all right? Mondler mush. Tell me what you think of this.


**AN: **So this is a one-shot that I wrote in a couple days while I was at my sister's hiding out from a tornado warning. I hope you guys like it. Please R&R and tell me what you think.

**Disclaimer: **I own no one. They all belong to Bright/Kauffman/Crane.

**Summary:** It's Chandler and Monica's anniversary and they are looking forward to spending the evening by themselves. But an attack changes everything.

Chandler shut down his computer and put all his papers in his briefcase and locked up his office. He took the elevator down to the lobby and walked out of the building. He cut through Central Park so he could get back to his apartment sooner. Today was his and Monica's anniversary and he had something extra special planned for them. He started down the bike path as he heard a noise behind him. He turned around abruptly and saw a dark figure. Before he knew what was happening, he was on the ground and his head felt like it was on fire as it hit the hard concrete.

Monica was pacing the living room as she waited for Chandler to arrive home so they could go out to dinner. She was dressed in a red dress with her hair down. The door opened and she started to smile until she realized it was Joey.

"I thought you'd be gone by now." he looked at her.

"So did I." she sighed. "Chandler is late."

"I'm sure he'll be here soon."

"Hey," Phoebe came in with Ross and Rachel. "Mon, you're still here."

"Where's Chandler?" Ross asked.

"He's very late." Monica sighed. "I'm going to call his office."

She picked up the phone and went into her bedroom as the others looked at each other.

"If he doesn't get here soon, there's going to be a murder when he finally does get here." Rachel said.

"Yes. Thank you." Monica came out of the bedroom and silently hung up the phone. "His assistant said that he left over an hour ago."

"That doesn't mean anything," Joey told her. "Maybe he took the subway and it broke down."

"Then why wouldn't he call and tell me that?"

"Maybe he can't get a signal."

"You're probably right." Monica sighed as the phone started to ring.

"That's probably him now." Rachel told her.

"Hello?" Monica picked up the phone. "This is Monica Bing. Yes, that's my husband. What happened? Oh my god. I'm on my way."

"What was that about?" Ross asked.

"That was the police. Chandler was attacked in Central Park. He's in the emergency room."

"Did they say how bad it was?" Phoebe asked.

"No. But if he's at the hospital, I'm thinking that it's not good."

"Let's go." they all grabbed their coats and rushed out of the apartment.

They reached the hospital fifteen minutes later and saw the waiting area packed. They saw a couple police officers talking to a nurse at the front desk. Monica went to the desk and tried to get someone's attention.

"I'm Monica Bing." she told them. "I got a call that my husband was here. His name is Chandler."

"I'm Officer Hicks." the police officer next to her said. "I was the one that talked to you on the phone."

"How is he?"

"He's a little banged up, but I think he'll be fine. We just got done taking his statement."

"So what happened?" Phoebe asked him.

"He said he cut through the park to get home faster because he knew he was late. He heard a noise behind him and turned around and that's when he was hit with something. He fell to the ground and he blacked out."

"So how'd you guys find him?" Ross asked.

"Someone called the station and said they could hear some yelling coming from the park. We got there and found him near unconsciousness."

"Can we see him?" Joey asked.

"One at a time." the nurse told them. "The doctor is still examining him."

"Go on, Mon. Just come give us an update when you can." Rachel told her.

The others sat in the waiting room chairs as the nurse led her down the hall and into a private exam room. She saw Chandler sitting on the edge of the exam table as he held an ice pack to his head and the doctor wrote in a chart.

"Chandler," she rushed to him and hugged him tightly.

"Mon," he took the ice pack away and tried to look at her, but his eye was starting to swell shut.

"Are you ok?"

"My head really hurts."

"How is he?" Monica looked at the doctor.

"He should be fine." he told her. "But he might have a concussion. So we want to monitor him overnight for any signs."

"Can I stay with him?"

"Of course. I'll be back in a little bit. I'm going to check to see if his tests are back yet." they watched the doctor walk out and Monica held Chandler.

"I'm so glad that you're all right."

"And I thought you'd be mad that I was late for our anniversary dinner."

"It's not like it was your fault."

"I was trying so hard to get to you on time."

"It's ok. We can have our dinner in a couple days."

"Do the others know I'm here?"

"They're all in the waiting room." she looked at him. "Do you want me to go get them so you can see them?"

"Yeah." he said softly. "Just hurry back."

"I will." she walked out of the room and down the hall to find the others.

Ross and Rachel went back to the waiting room and handed coffees to Joey and Phoebe. They were all pacing around and trying to stay calm as they waited for Monica to come back with any news on Chandler.

"There's Monica," Phoebe spotted her coming down the hall.

"How is he, Mon?" Joey asked her once she got to them.

"The doctor said he's going to be fine. He just has to stay overnight for observation to make sure he doesn't have a concussion." she told them. "But he is asking to see you guys."

"How bad does he look?" Ross asked.

"He is pretty banged up. He has a split lip and one his eyes is almost completely swollen shut."

"Let's just go see him." Rachel said and they all followed Monica back down the hall and into the exam room.

"Chan?" Joey went to him. "Are you ok?"

"I think my eye is completely swollen shut now." he said softly.

"You're going to be fine." Monica went to him and held him.

"I feel strange." he mumbled.

"What do you mean?"

"I think something is wrong…." he suddenly fell against Monica.

"Chandler?" Joey helped lay him back on the table as Ross rushed out of the room and came back with a doctor and a nurse.

"Mr. Bing," the doctor shone a light in each of his eyes. "Can you hear me?"

"Is he ok?" Monica asked.

"Nurse," he looked back at her. "Call down to radiology and tell them we're bringing someone down for a CT scan."

"What's going on?" Monica asked. "Why does he need a CT scan?"

"When he gave his statement to the police, he said he may have hit his head on the concrete as he blacked out, but he wasn't sure." the doctor told them all. "He was alert, so we didn't think anything was wrong."

"So what do you think might be wrong with him now?"

"There's a chance that he could have a shattered skull."

"What?"

"We won't know for sure until we do the CT scan." the nurse started to help the doctor push the bed with Chandler on it out of the room.

"Well, I'm coming with you." Monica followed them down the hall towards radiology.

Monica stood out in the hall with the others as they watched them get Chandler on the bed and moved him inside the circular tube. They saw a couple flashes and he was moved out of the tube and they pushed him out of the room.

"When will you get the results?" Monica asked.

"In about thirty minutes." the doctor told them. "We're going to get him settled into a room."

Monica walked into Chandler's room and saw him laying motionless on the bed with a tube in his nose and she could hear the beeping of the heart rate machine.

"You need to wake up, honey. You still owe me an anniversary dinner." she ran her fingers through his hair. "Everyone is in the waiting room. They're so worried about you."

Monica woke up in the early morning and saw Chandler still sleeping on the bed. She took his hand and squeezed it tightly. There was a light knock on the door and Joey came in.

"Has he woken up yet?" he asked her.

"Not yet." she sighed. "But the CT scan came back negative. So he doesn't have a shattered skull, which is good."

"Why don't you get out of this room for awhile?" he pulled her out of the chair and led her to the door. "Go get some coffee with Rachel and I'll stay here with Chandler."

"Ok." she sighed and slowly walked out of the room as Joey went to stand by the bed.

"Hey, buddy." he sat in the chair that Monica had just vacated. "You need to wake up. Monica really needs you. We all do."

Chandler heard voices as he slowly started to resurface. It sounded as if they were coming from the end of a very long tunnel. He saw a light being shined in both of his eyes and someone took his hand.

"I think he's starting to come to." he heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Come on, honey. Open your eyes." he heard the beautiful voice above him.

He slowly opened his eyes and saw a sea of faces above him as they all smiled. He looked at each of them before his gaze landed on the dark-haired woman to his left.

"Hey." she smiled at him. "Welcome back."

"What happened?" he asked softly.

"You don't remember?"

"Oh. I was mugged. It was our anniversary."

"Don't worry about ruining anything. As long as you're all right."

"You're going to be just fine, Mr. Bing." the doctor told him. "No sign of concussion. And no shattered skull. You should be able to go home in a few hours after we run some tests just to make sure."

"Ok." Chandler said softly.

The doctor walked out of the room and everyone crowded closer to Chandler's bed.

"You really know how to scare us." Rachel told him.

"I'm sorry I scared you guys." he said softly.

"You're going to be ok." Phoebe said. "That's all that matters."

"The good news is that they caught the guy." Ross said. "Officer Hicks stopped by and said he attacked someone else last night. So you don't have to worry."

"They found all your things." Joey placed a big plastic bag on the end of the bed as Chandler slowly sat up. "I don't think anything is missing."

"Are you sure?"

"I think it's all there."

"I'm just glad that you're all right." Monica kissed his forehead. "Happy Late Anniversary."

"Happy Late Anniversary." he whispered as they smiled at each other.

**AN:** So there's my first attempt at a one-shot. Hope you liked it. Please R&R and tell me what you think.


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